Harry Potter and the Dragon

III

The Taming of the Skrewt

"What happened, Hagrid? How come Fluffy escaped?" panted Harry.

"I o'ny wen' ter the privy for a secon' an' lef' the big brute sleepin' soundly at me whis'le's music. Don' know wha' happen'd. It seems there's some bitch in rut 'round here..." answered Hagrid, while trying to handle the massive three-headed dog.

"Yeah, now that you mention it..." Harry said acidly to himself.

"Lis'en Harry, in me righ' pocke' there's the whis'le. Blow it fer me, please."

"But how are we supposed to drag Fluffy back into the barn if he's asleep?"

"Once he's asleep, we can siddown and think 'bout it!"

Harry found the whistle, worked a slow tune, and Hagrid could finally relax his sore muscles. Fluffy dropped off in the middle of the road that led to some other village, and in whose brink Hagrid's cabin stood. Harry kept on playing for a while in order to allow Hagrid some rest, and when he had recovered his strength and could lead Fluffy home, they set off to the cabin. Harry was walking slowly, with a distinctively sour look in his face.

"Yeh lef' early today. Had business in town?" the big man tried to engage his protégée into a casual conversation.

"Yeah, I went to Hermione's, to get Quidditch Through The Ages," said Harry distractedly.

"Had a good time?"

"Yeah, sure," the boy replied in bitter tones. After a moment's pause, he spoke again. "Hagrid, do you think I'm gay?"

"Wha'? Wha' makes yeh say tha'? Who -? Wha' happen'd...?"

"I don't know. It's just these stupid villagers... Hagrid, I hate this town, I don't wanna live here anymore, dunno, it feels like I don't belong in here..."

"Well, I understan'. It hasn' bin easy fer me either. Being a half-breed an' stuff... Bu' remember, I 'ave me Blast-ended Skrewt ready, I'm takin' 'im ter the 'Fourth Inter-village Monster Fair' today, an' I expect 'im ter win the firs' prize, and tha'll change things fer us... We coul' move ter another place, and yeh coul' make some friends alrigh'..."

"Yeah, I s'pose..." sighed Harry. "Well. I'm pretty sure you'll do fine in the fair. There's no one better than you when it comes to deal with beasts."

Hagrid smiled under his thick beard and his black beady eyes shone with happiness.

Later that day, Hagrid was busy convincing the Blast-ended Skrewt to get into its cage while Harry prepared Buckbeak, the hippogriff, for the trip. Since Hagrid was heavy enough to flatten a common horse, he used to ride this beautiful but proud animal anytime he needed to leave town. And as the fair was going to take place in a neighboring village and Hagrid enjoyed going through the woods, no magical means of transportation was required. Harry was attaching a cart to Buckbeak, who was having lots of fun by scratching the soil with his claws. "I'm sorry you'll have to keep your wings folded, Beaky, but otherwise I can't fix the shafts..."

A couple of hours before sunset, Hagrid was ready to depart. He stepped in front of his foster son and stared at him with worried eyes.

"I feel bad leavin' yeh alone, Harry. Yeh seem kinda downcas'..."

"Don't worry about me, Hagrid, I'll be fine. And I'll be really happy when you come back with the first prize for having had the bright idea of messing around with manticores and those flaming sea-food things. Wait to see the others: they'll be taking stupid things like fork-tailed dogs or horses nobody can see..."

"Tha's me boy! I promise I'll bring yeh a basilisk if I can get one!"

"Oh yeah, I love snakes!! Cooked in their own juice... Good bye, Hagrid. Good luck!"

"Good bye, son!"

Harry watched his foster father disappear down the road, the long shadow projected by the cart following as an innuendo of a bad omen. But Harry didn't notice that, for he had an urgent appointment with his favourite Quidditch book, and he didn't want to leave it waiting any longer.